I know he was explaining things, and I'm sorry, but all I heard was "wah-wanh, wah-wanh", and in my head, Wrathion was singing..!

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

Katy Perry, Firework

This, friends, is the first song by Katy Perry that I ever liked. Until this song came out, I thought she was superficial and vain, singing about all sorts of things our society has seen and heard enough of. Watch the video here. :D

Poor Taint. For exactly that reason, Blizz has hit him twice for a character re-name. Luckily, he's explained his piece and hasn't needed to change his toon's name, but still. We all just couldn't stop laughing about it!

Okay. I'll tell the story. Just be advised: Nothing prepares you for what happens when you innocently click on the Tuft of Yak Fur you find in your bags one day.

We were in vent. A group of us on the Timeless Isle, no doubt farming something that would quickly become irrelevant. I, as usual, was emptying my bags because, you know, "Inventory is full". /makes face

Oh look! Something new! With flavor text!

"It's so fluffy!"

Cool! A mount! Right-click!

Suddenly, there was Octavien, all manliness cast aside, unceremoniously grabbing on to spades of yak fur... (Poor guy. In front of all his friends.) He may or may not have called for his "mommy", but we are not here to judge his virility—or lack thereof. This enormous yak went tearing off like its tailless end was on fire. It barreled through angry elites who all gave chase... Everyone was laughing. In vent.

Ultimately, the story has a happy ending, in that Octavien survived, and that horrible mount was destroyed before its last two charges were used accidentally.

So, a word from the wise... Click with discretion at appropriate times and places.

Anou was down in the shadows of the Cleft, practicing under her favorite Orc teachers. It wasn't because she actually needed the practice—it was more to escape the sweltering heat of a dusty afternoon in Orgrimmar. No wonder these Orcs were so tough-skinned. Between the heat, the dust, the dry air and the spiky little critters laying in the sun everywhere, one was bound to develop a brawny outer layer.

"Consider closely your objective, you must."

"Focus your attention, Anoukisse!"

"Concentrate, Anoukisse! To unleash Shadowfury properly, it must hit every target! You need to center it accordingly," admonished Gan'rul for what seemed like the tenth time.

Anou fanned herself. Even down here in the somber dampness, away from the sun's furious rays, there seemed to lay an uncomfortable heat. She took her spell book out again, hoping to find some little tip to help her focus better, when suddenly, she saw Zevrost straighten, looking over her shoulder to the common area of the Cleft.

Grol'dar whispered "Ureda" in a way that raised the hair along her nape. That name was familiar to Anoukisse. Though in truth, she couldn't remember why she knew this. Wasn't Ureda a mage trainer? Or.. a priest? Slowly, Anou turned to see what exactly had everyone's attention. Meanwhile, Gizput, Kurgul's imp, began to snicker and chant in a high, grating staccato, "Ureda-of-the-Black-Flame-Ureda-of-the-Black-Flame-Ureda-of-the-Black-Flame."

Standing before them was a larger-than-life Orc woman with a most ominous disposition.

"Garrosh will not tolerate demon worship within the walls of Orgrimmar. You will submit and allow yourselves to be taken into custody or be destroyed."

At that precise moment, Kasar appeared behind their would-be captors. A very wise Warlock, he quickly understood what was going on, and shouted out, providing a moment of distraction. From behind her, she heard the faintest command she'd ever heard from her mentors: "Circle!" In the space of a heartbeat, Anou had teleported herself to a neighboring chamber, leaving nothing but a pile of dust for Ureda of the Black Flame to exclaim over.

Being a skin-and-bones Blood Elf had its advantages, she thought for once, as she climbed into a large clay pot to ponder her next move.

[N.B.: This entry is part of my "goons of Orgrimmar" series. Nothing official really, no label or anything. But it's part of the changes/events that happened throughout the course of Mists of Pandaria that lead to Siege of Orgrimmar. Also, a big thanks to my awesome GM, for posing for what seemed like hours to get the shots "just right", and for putting up with "these working conditions". ;) Lucky for me, he's "used to this kind of hard, modeling work". /cough ]

On one particular week in May, I was driven to find all those glowy, scrolly lore-related things scattered around Pandaria, for the achievements. I didn't realize how much work had gone into that part of the game, and to be honest, I freaking loved it. I enjoyed scouting around, making a haphazard itinerary, calling Dargeralstraz—a.k.a. Darger—"James" because he chauffeured me around as a Sandstone Drake. Whilst leveling, I'd clicked and read a lot of those glowy, scrolly things, but had never gone out of my way to find them all—leveling takes enough of my concentration as it is. Plus, eventually, I also like to get all the achievements on Anou, as she is my... my... sinfully beautiful alter ego.

So there we were, traveling across the map, clicking on bits of lore, killing rares that happened to be in the way. I managed to work on (and complete) several achievements at once:

Legend of the Brewfathers

I'm in Your Base, Killing Your Dudes

Rumbles of Thunder

The Zandalari Prophecy

Gods and Monsters

Zul'Again

The Song of the Yaungol

Ballad of Liu Lang

Hozen in the Mist

Fish Tales

Between a Saurok and a Hard Place

Restore Balance

The Lorewalkers

55 Exalted Reputations

Klaxxi

What is Worth Fighting For

Special thanks to my GM for hanging out with me and chit chatting while I flew back and forth in a disorganized fashion (until I made the makeshift itinerary), and to Bone for unwittingly assisting with I'm in Your Base, Killing Your Dudes. (I mean, I had no idea those rares where the ones that lead to that achievement, even though every time it flashed in guild for someone who'd earned it, I was like, that is such a great achievement, everyone needs to be killing the alliance's dudes and going neener neener about it!) Ahh. Gloating over the corpses of your arch enemies. What a way to end an evening of exploration.

Anyway, all this being said, I also had no idea that Lorewalker Cho would be so excited by all her research that he'd send Anou individual... umm... cans in the mail, giving her rendez-vous to meet him at the Seat of Knowledge. Each one of those cans got her a vision of lore, complete with narrative by Cho himself, and a ton of rep to boot! I'm not usually a lore buff (as mentioned earlier, my attention span is not as evolved as other people's), so this whole stage at the Seat of Knowledge was like a bag of candy for me. (For the record, I don't really like candy.) Especially the fact that you can repeat those narratives with their visions at any time, simply by asking him! Obviously, I took screen shots of my favorite moments...

Did you know? The Jinyu evolved from Murlocs!

The Mogu were children of the Titans!

The Yaungol were once Tauren who adapted to survive.

By far, the narrative that came from Gods and Monsters was my favorite. In particular, the very first scene depicting Varian and Anduin Wrynn..

Very touching. And here's a free French lesson for all y'all: "Très émouvant."

I leave you all with a quote:

"Parents place their children on a path, but they don't always know where the road will take them." ~Lorewalker Cho

LOL Poor Taint. Incidentally, for those of you who don't know, Octavien is me, and Anourexia is Taint. Octavien always flirts with Taint (who's a female 'toon). For once, he also gets to flirt with "Anou" (an unreasonable facsimile of Anoukisse, whom he worships and adores).